Residents asked to reduce plastics

SOUTH BEND -- The city is asking South Bend residents to help it save at least $40,000 per year by switching from plastic to paper bags for future yard waste pickup.

Last year, the city collected 6,600 tons of yard waste, and 25 percent of that was plastic.

Residents will not be required to use paper bags, stresses Andre Price, Department of Solid Waste supervisor.

"We will host neighborhood informational sessions, provide the first free paper bags and place door hangers on residences around the city" to encourage participation, Price said in a news release.

Residents can buy paper bags at the same places they buy plastic bags.

Yard waste ends up at the Organic Resources department just off Nimtz Parkway on the city's west side. There, the city uses extra manpower and resources to separate plastic bags from yard waste to make compost.

In asking residents to make the switch, Mayor Pete Buttigieg said, "If you're using those plastic bags, you are paying for that in your taxes because it's fuel to take those bags to the landfill, it's tipping fees to pay at the landfill, and it's the time and energy of city employees who are having to separate that plastic out from the yard waste when they could be doing other things."